Conceptualizing Democratic Embodiment: Feminist Movements Advancing Democracy Amid Backsliding

Abstract Feminist movements in times of democratic backsliding are primarily framed as defensive, resilient, or resistant. However, such an approach overlooks the agency underpinning the enactment of democratic practices. In this article, we introduce the concept of democratic embodiment to shift the focus from what democracy achieves to how democratic agency is materially, affectively, and relationally constituted in contexts of vulnerability. Drawing on feminist and democratic theory, we conceptualize democratic embodiment as a constitutive mode of political agency through which feminist actors defend, enact, and expand democracy by centering embodied presence, affective solidarities, and infrastructures of care. Rethinking the relationship between democratic resilience and democratic innovation, we argue, helps better highlight how feminist actors enhance democracy, simultaneously resisting the erosion of gender equality while also embodying alternative visions of democracy.